# Which hygrometer and why?



## shakinghorizons (Aug 10, 2012)

I currently have a AcuRite digital humidity and temperature monitor hygrometer from walmart in my humidor. Although it is accurate, I need something smaller to put in there as I am running out of room. Unless there is something I missed, here are the ones I have narrowed my search down to (all roughly the same price) - XIKAR Digital Adjustable Hygrometers, Caliber IV, or Hygroset II. I'm thinking they are all in the same category of each other and I can't go wrong with any of them, but was hoping for opinions.


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## havanajohn (Apr 4, 2009)

I currently have 4 Hygrosets, and one Caliber III , and love them all.


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## huskers (Oct 2, 2012)

Don't think you can go wrong with any of them.


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

I use Xikars simply because they are guaranteed for life. Can't beat that.


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## c10cko (Mar 14, 2013)

I've a Caliber IV - Readily avaliable here in the UK, less expensive than the Xikar and you can calibrate it.


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## henjg124 (Dec 16, 2012)

Accurite from Wally World. It's cheap and it works.


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## shakinghorizons (Aug 10, 2012)

henjg124 said:


> Accurite from Wally World. It's cheap and it works.





shakinghorizons said:


> I currently have a AcuRite digital humidity and temperature monitor hygrometer from walmart in my humidor. Although it is accurate, I need something smaller to put in there as I am running out of room.


^^^


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## c10cko (Mar 14, 2013)

henjg124 said:


> Accurite from Wally World. It's cheap and it works.


Can the Accurite be calibrated? I've got one coming over from the US this weekend with a mate.


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## henjg124 (Dec 16, 2012)

c10cko said:


> Can the Accurite be calibrated? I've got one coming over from the US this weekend with a mate.


Just looked at one of em and no you cant calibrate it from what I can tell. Mine are pretty old and have done a great job. Maybe the newer ones can be calibrated, I don't know.


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## Tobias Lutz (Feb 18, 2013)

This thing:

View attachment 77301


Cheap and seems to work fine.


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## tony (Feb 2, 2008)

xikars by a country mile. i own about 6 xikars and 3 hygrosets. the hygrosets are horrible by comparison.


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## Snook Hunter (Apr 17, 2013)

I have one from my pet chameleon that I really like. I did the salt test and it reads true. But what I like about it is that the temp. and humidity sensors are on wired probes so I can just drop the probes in and have the display on the outside. This type of unit would be great for a coolerdor, fridgador, or wineador setup because you can just put the probes wherever, and just mount the actual unit/display with some adhesive Velcro on the outside of the door or wherever you want. Makes it easy to monitor without opening the humi.


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## TopsiderLXI (Jun 29, 2012)

I use a Hydroset, but I am always questioning its reliability. When ever I use the salt check to test it, it is off a few from what it should be it seems.
It is able to be calibrated though.
Maybe I'll make the switch to Xikar.


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## zgnombies (Jan 10, 2013)

I use the Xikars. I've had no problems with them whatsoever.


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## Anthony Johnson (Jan 23, 2007)

I have the same...


Tobias Lutz said:


> This thing:
> 
> View attachment 77301
> 
> ...


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## Cigar Guru (Dec 22, 2012)

Adorini Synthetic Hair Analog Hygrometer.

From my experience, it is as accurate as the most accurate digital hygrometers. It doesn't tell you the temp, but it sure looks classy. Call me an old dog. I try to hang on to the good ol days.

The synthetic hair that they use is specially built for Cigar rh accuracy.


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## mando3 (Feb 5, 2013)

Xikar or Caliber have worked for me


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

tony said:


> xikars by a country mile. i own about 6 xikars and 3 hygrosets. the hygrosets are horrible by comparison.


I totally agree. I bought 2 hygrosets before my Xikars and they where terrible by chomparison. Hard to calibrate and inaccurate.


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## tony (Feb 2, 2008)

pittjitsu said:


> I totally agree. I bought 2 hygrosets before my Xikars and they where terrible by chomparison. Hard to calibrate and inaccurate.


i had to engineer a solution to even get the hygrosets to work, all 3. lol

the battery wouldnt make contact. i had to fold a piece of paper and place it between the battery door and the battery


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## pittjitsu (Mar 30, 2012)

tony said:


> i had to engineer a solution to even get the hygrosets to work, all 3. lol
> 
> the battery wouldnt make contact. i had to fold a piece of paper and place it between the battery door and the battery


Same here every other time I opened the box the screen would be black. I would need to push the batteries back in, then go through pretesting them in salt water then turning the knob would never get it to 75. It would either be over or under no matter how small a turn I made.then the whole process would repeat at least twice a week. I said screw it and replaced them all with assorted Xikars. Round and rectangular and both types work flawlessly! The calibrated with the push of one button, the battery stays in place and lasts a long time and they are always spot on accurate


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

This
SALE - NIST Certified Digital Hygrometer 4096 - $59.50 - Fine Weather Instruments - The Weather Store

Edit
Most of the others are all crap...

Not as crappy as the others....
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Humidor-CALIBER3-Thermometer-Hygrometer/dp/B0007W1EA6


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Cigar Guru said:


> Adorini Synthetic Hair Analog Hygrometer.
> 
> From my experience, it is as accurate as the most accurate digital hygrometers. It doesn't tell you the temp, but it sure looks classy. Call me an old dog. I try to hang on to the good ol days.
> 
> The synthetic hair that they use is specially built for Cigar rh accuracy.


Words of wisdom here....but these too need TLC


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## Cigar Guru (Dec 22, 2012)

asmartbull said:


> Words of wisdom here....but these too need TLC


Just don't let them get knocked or dropped. The calibration should stay accurate for a lot longer than digitals.

I still check them about once a year though. Just to be sure.

Just to be fair. I also own a fair amount of Xikars and Hygrosets. These are one of the better and fairly cheap hygros. But when I calibrate these, I put them in an airtight container. With Two 65% Bovedas and one of my Adorinis. I use the Adorini to make sure that the internal rh is at 65%. Bovedas will set the rh exactly as stated on the pack if the container is really air tight.

A humble tip from an old dog:

These days. I don't advise the Salt Test to calibrate your hygros. Why? Hygros are most accurate within a few points from calibration. So if you use the salt test, which calibrates the hygros at 75 rh, they will be accurate to about +/- 3 points from 75. Factor in about 2% margin of error of the device itself, you have almost 5% of inaccuracy.

Always calibrate closest to your prefered rh for the lowest margin of error.


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## OratorORourke (May 9, 2013)

pittjitsu said:


> I use Xikars simply because they are guaranteed for life. Can't beat that.


I have 3 Xikars because I never have any problems with them and like Pitt said, the guarantee puts you at ease.



Tobias Lutz said:


> This thing:
> 
> View attachment 77301
> 
> ...


Also like Tobias I have one of those Humi-Care's (cheap and seems to be just as accurate...for now). I have only had it about 3 months. I purchased it because FS was on back order on the Xikars at the time and I didn't want to wait. The Humi-Care seemed like it would be the next best thing (purchased at CI)...


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## Habano (Jul 5, 2010)

asmartbull said:


> This
> SALE - NIST Certified Digital Hygrometer 4096 - $59.50 - Fine Weather Instruments - The Weather Store


+1. Why take a chance? We expect nothing but the best cigars so why not give them the best when it comes to monitoring the temp and RH?


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## shakinghorizons (Aug 10, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the comments and voting. I will be picking up a Xikar!


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## Yamoks (May 19, 2013)

I just picked up a couple of Caliber 4Rs, mainly for the looks. Anyone have any experience with them?


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## madbricky (Mar 29, 2013)

Habano said:


> +1. Why take a chance? We expect nothing but the best cigars so why not give them the best when it comes to monitoring the temp and RH?


* Ditto, the little plastic units are +/~5% rh which is a big deal, really.
I found a wireless up to 3 sensors at 100 feet that is NIST certified and has parameter alarms for each zone. Sometimes you have to think outside the box or in this case monitor outside the box to really care for your cigars and get the RH you actually want. The lab grade unit is 89 bucks and the sensors are 39.95 average across the different companies. Less than a box of short stories to cover 3 zones or 3 humis. Nice. *


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## T3Hunter (Mar 12, 2013)

I'm late to the party, but I have a couple of Hygrosets that are working well.

My bigger concern is that you are looking for a smaller hygro because you are running out of room. This tells me you have either too many cigars or too small a humidor. I know it can't be the first one, so I think I found the problem! 

Good luck and happy puffing.


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## f4milytime (May 15, 2013)

Xikar, All around simple, and works great, accurate too !!:nod:


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## JustinThyme (Jun 17, 2013)

New here and this is my first post. I have been smoking cigars occasionally but recently have gotten a bit deeper in while quitting cigarettes.
Needing to get set up I bought and returned many hygrometers. Xikar was one of the first I bought and also the first one returned. Maybe it was just me but it was all over the place. I didn't do the salt method as this has proven time and again to be inaccurate. If you don't get the water concentration right its not going to reflect correctly. Ive been using the boveda calibration kit. Ive also bought hygrosets and returned those also.

The two that I am using that have been dead on accurate are the caliber IV and the Adorini Synthetic Hair hygrometers. The Caliber read +1 right out of the box and calibration took care of that. The adorini was dead on right out of the box, no calibration necessary. I use the Adorini as an external, looks great and the Caliber on the inside as a back up.


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## metinemre (Jul 26, 2014)

JustinThyme said:


> New here and this is my first post. I have been smoking cigars occasionally but recently have gotten a bit deeper in while quitting cigarettes.
> Needing to get set up I bought and returned many hygrometers. Xikar was one of the first I bought and also the first one returned. Maybe it was just me but it was all over the place. I didn't do the salt method as this has proven time and again to be inaccurate. If you don't get the water concentration right its not going to reflect correctly. Ive been using the boveda calibration kit. Ive also bought hygrosets and returned those also.
> 
> The two that I am using that have been dead on accurate are the caliber IV and the Adorini Synthetic Hair hygrometers. The Caliber read +1 right out of the box and calibration took care of that. The adorini was dead on right out of the box, no calibration necessary. I use the Adorini as an external, looks great and the Caliber on the inside as a back up.


Wow! I found your first post


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## ShaneG (Apr 9, 2014)

This weeks stalker award goes to......



metinemre said:


> Wow! I found your first post


:noidea:


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## metinemre (Jul 26, 2014)

ShaneG said:


> This weeks stalker award goes to......
> 
> :noidea:


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